1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle-mounting steering switch which is attached to a steering wheel of an automobile and is served for manipulating various equipment such as an automatic transmission.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, there has been known a technique in which a plurality of steering switches are mounted at an arbitrary position of a steering wheel and when a driver selectively manipulates these steering switches, the transmission gears are shifted up or down manually in the midst of travelling within a drive range, for example.
As a conventional example of such a vehicle-mounting steering switch, there has been proposed a vehicle-mounting steering switch in which a plurality of manipulating knobs are arranged at a front surface or both front and back surfaces of a pad extending toward the inside of a ring of the steering wheel and press switches are respectively housed in the inside of respective manipulating knobs. These press switches incorporate movable contacts and fixed contacts therein. When the manipulating knob is in the unpushed state, the movable contacts in the press switches are separated from the fixed contacts so that the press switch becomes the OFF state. On the other hand, when the push manipulation of an arbitrary manipulating knob is performed, the movable contact in the corresponding press switch is brought into contact with the fixed contact so that the press switch performs the ON operation.
In the vehicle-mounting steering switch having such a constitution, when the driver selectively performs the push manipulation of an arbitrary manipulating knob while gripping the ring of the steering wheel, the press switch housed in the inside of the manipulating knob performs the ON operation so that the transmission gears can be shifted up in response to an ON signal, for example, while when the driver performs the push manipulation of the separate manipulating knob, the separate press switch which is housed in the inside of the manipulating knob performs the ON operation so that the transmission gears can be shifted down in response to the ON signal.
As mentioned previously, the conventional vehicle-mounting steering switch is constituted such that a plurality of manipulating knobs are arranged at the arbitrary position of the steering wheel and by selectively performing the push manipulation of these manipulating knobs using a finger of the driver, the ON/OFF operations of the respective press switches housed in the inside of respective manipulating knobs are performed. Accordingly, when two different controls consisting of xe2x80x9cshift-upxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cshift-downxe2x80x9d, for example, are performed in response to the ON/OFF changeover signals of respective press switches, it is necessary for the driver to perform the selective push manipulation of at least two manipulating knobs. Particularly, when the driver continuously performs the changeover of two controls, the driver has to largely move his finger from one manipulating knob to the other manipulating knob so that there still exists room for improvement in terms of the operability.
Further, as mentioned above, in the conventional vehicle-mounting steering switch, at least two manipulating knobs are necessary for performing two different controls and these manipulating knobs are arranged at a pad of the steering wheel. However, it is usually necessary to ensure a space for installing a horn switch, an airbag and the like in the pad of the steering wheel so that there arises a problem that the space for installing the manipulating knobs is largely restricted. Particularly, when the same control function is given to the left and right manipulating knobs to enhance the operability, it is necessary to arrange four manipulating knobs in total at the pad of the steering wheel, that is, two steering wheels at the left side and another two steering wheels at the right side of the pad. Such an arrangement which arranges a large number of manipulating knobs in the limited space of the steering wheel also gives rise to a problem that the degree of freedom of design is significantly restricted.
The present invention has been made in view of the circumstances of the prior art and it is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle-mounting steering switch which exhibits excellent operability and also can minimize the space for installation.
To achieve the abovementioned objects, a vehicle-mounting steering switch according to the present invention includes a support member which is mounted on a steering wheel having spokes thereof extended in the inside of an annular ring thereof, a manipulating knob which is rotatably and pivotally supported on the support member, and output changeover means which is capable of outputting two different kinds of electric signals in response to a rotating direction of the manipulating knob, wherein the manipulating knob is protruded into a space defined between the spokes and the ring, and wherein the manipulating knob is rotatably manipulated in directions opposite to each other with respect to a rotationally neutral position of the manipulating knob, whereby the output changeover means selectively outputs one of the electric signals.
In the vehicle-mounting steering switch having such a constitution, when a driver pushes one manipulating knob which is protruded into the space defined between the spokes and the ring of the steering wheel toward the depth side or pulls such a manipulating knob in the front direction with his finger, two different kinds of electric signals are selectively outputted from the output changeover means in response to the rotating direction of the manipulating knob. Accordingly, two different controls can be performed with the push/pull manipulation of one manipulating knob so that the operability can be enhanced and the installation space can be reduced.
In the abovementioned constitution, it is preferable that the output changeover means is constituted of a first contact member which is mounted on the supporting member and a second contact member which is mounted on the manipulating knob and relative positions of these first and second contact members are changed in response to the rotating direction of the manipulating knob. By distributing the constituent members of the output changeover means to the support member and the manipulating knob in this manner, the vehicle-mounting steering switch can be miniaturized. In this case, a circuit board on which a conductive pattern such as a resistance pattern and a contact pattern is formed is preferably used as the first contact member and a sliding element which is brought into slide contact with the conductive pattern is preferably used as the second contact member. Due to such a constitution, two kinds of electric signals can be outputted from the circuit board which is mounted on the fixed-side supporting member so that the pulling-around of the signals is facilitated.
To achieve the abovementioned objects, a vehicle-mounting steering switch according to the present invention includes a support member which is mounted on a steering wheel having spokes thereof extended in the inside of an annular ring thereof, a manipulating knob which is rotatably and pivotally supported on the support member and is protruded into a space defined between the spokes and the ring, and a push element which is inserted between the support member and the manipulating knob and is brought into pressure contact with a cam face upon receiving a biasing force of a resilient member, and output changeover means which is capable of outputting two different kinds of electric signals in response to a rotating direction of the manipulating knob, wherein the manipulating knob is held at a rotationally neutral position when the push element is disposed at a valley of the cam face, and wherein when the manipulating knob is rotatably operated in directions opposite to each other with respect to a rotationally neutral position, the push element is shifted from the valley to a crest of the cam face against the biasing force of the resilient member whereby the output changeover means selectively outputs one of the electric signals.
In the vehicle-mounting steering switch having such a constitution, when a driver pushes one manipulating knob which is protruded into the space defined between the spokes and the ring of the steering wheel toward the depth side or pulls such a manipulating knob toward the front direction with his finger, two different kinds of electric signals are selectively outputted from the output changeover means in response to the rotational direction of the manipulating knob. Then, when the abovementioned pushing force or pulling force applied to the manipulating knob is removed, the push element is shifted from the crest to the valley of the cam face upon receiving the biasing force of the resilient member so that the manipulating knob is held at the rotationally neutral position in a stable manner. Accordingly, the driver can perform two different controls by performing with his finger the push/pull manipulation of one manipulating knob which is held at the rotationally neutral position. Furthermore, by releasing fingers from the manipulating knob, the manipulating knob automatically returns to the rotationally neutral position so that the operability is enhanced and, at the same time, the space for installing the manipulating knob can be reduced.
In the abovementioned constitution, it is preferable that the cam face is formed on the support member and the push element and the resilient member are held by the manipulating knob. In this case, by accommodating the push element and the resilient member in a holder and by inserting and fixedly securing a portion of the holder in a recess formed in the manipulating knob, the push element, the resilient member and the holder can be simply assembled into the manipulating knob so that the operability of assembling is enhanced.
Still further, to achieve the abovementioned object, the vehicle-mounting steering switch according to the present invention includes a support member which is mounted on a steering wheel having spokes thereof extended in the inside of an annular ring thereof, a manipulating knob which is rotatably and pivotally supported on the support member and is protruded into a space defined between the spokes and the ring, a hollow which is formed on either one of the support member and the manipulating knob, a stopper protrusion which is formed on the other of the support member and the manipulating knob and is protruded into the inside of the hollow, and output changeover means which is capable of outputting two different kinds of electric signals in response to a rotating direction of the manipulating knob, wherein by rotatably operating the manipulating knob in directions opposite to each other with respect to a rotationally neutral position, the output changeover means selectively outputs one of the electric signals, and wherein the stopper protrusion is brought into contact with an inner wall of the hollow so that a rotational range of the manipulating knob is restricted.
In the vehicle-mounting steering switch having such a constitution, when a driver pushes one manipulating knob which is protruded into the space defined between the spokes and the ring of the steering wheel toward the depth side or pulls such a manipulating knob toward the front direction with his finger, two different kinds of electric signals are selectively outputted from the output changeover means in response to the rotational direction of the manipulating knob. Then, at a point of time that the stopper protrusion is brought into contact with the inner wall of the hollow, the further rotation of the manipulating knob is restricted. Accordingly, the driver can perform two different controls by performing the push/pull manipulation of one manipulating knob with his finger. Furthermore, even when an excessive force is applied to the manipulating knob during such a manipulation, the force is received by the stopper protrusion in a stable manner and hence, the operability can be enhanced and the space for installing the manipulating knob can be reduced.
In the abovementioned constitution, it is preferable that the stopper protrusion is mounted on a fixed-side support member and the hollow is formed on the movable-side manipulating knob. Due to such a constitution, by making effective use of the inner space of the manipulating knob, a stopper mechanism having a compact shape and high strength can be realized. In this case, by increasing a thickness of the inner wall of the hollow at a position with which the stopper protrusion is brought into contact compared to other peripheral portions, the strength of the stopper can be further enhanced.
Further, in the abovementioned constitution, although the shape of the stopper protrusion is not limited, with the use of the stopper protrusion which has a tapered shape narrowed toward a distal end thereof, the rotational angle of the stopper protrusion can be freely determined corresponding to a taper angle of the stopper protrusion.